Thanks everybody, I really appreciate the kind thoughts.  The splint thing comes off in eight days, not that I'm counting or anything, after that a boot and PT begins.  I am highly motivated to get this thing back in working order, so I'll be the the best PT patient in the whole class.

Relative to solo tripping....I'm always very careful about where I step and not taking big chances, in order to avoid something of this nature.  So, let me be everybody's object lesson, a reminder, to take a little extra care when you're on your own.  Otherwise your lack of invincibility may show, and you'll end up like I was - alone in a wooded area, phone in the house, wife in Seattle, kids away at college, whimper-limping back to the house to reach out for help. I only had to go the distance of a football field (thought I'd have to crawl, but managed the whimper-limp).  Imagine doing that to yourself on a canoe trip, because you were absent-minded for a moment, or had a hold-my-beer moment, or figured "it's not that far, I can do a little jump and land ok on that one rock".  Should that happen, maybe your ability to reach out to the world is at the other end of the portage, but even if you can get help, you're on your own, it hurts like ever-living H....you get the idea.  The injury can happen even if you're being smart and cautious, but of course there's no need to court disaster.

My wife hates it when I solo trip....this isn't gonna help my case come spring time....

Guess who broke his fibula when he rolled his ankle and crumpled down on top of it.  I'll give you one guess.  

Surgery happens Friday.  Missed my Spring trip this year, Fall trip just got bone-snapped.  I guess the next trip I can hope for is May 2026, and it will probably have to be a very lightweight kind of a trip I guess (heavy on paddling, light on carrying).  Doc said I'll be feeling good in 2-3 months, but for fully healed everything is awesome, 1 year.  

Pro-tip: If you pull wild grape vine out of trees to keep it from choking the trees out, remember that those vines are springy and they pull back.

Reminder: Nobody ever did something like this because they did something smart....

Thanks for sharing that!  What a great trip!

For sale: cozy log cabin, beautiful view and nestled in a secluded location.  Handyman special.  

No idea where this is, but it is a cool photo.  I feel like the caption should be "And that's why I had to swim for my canoe."  The boat just looks like it is itching to get in that rapid.

Just tried to delete one.  "We couldn't access the requested file."

I haven't received a message for a year and a half, and I don't think I've successfully sent one for that long, so I'm not sure that's working.  Viewing trip reports works ok, but I kind of gave up posting them myself because I have so much difficulty getting the photos to upload. I'm assuming that's a version-of-software issue that's beyond my technical knowledge (which is a low threshold to cross I'm afraid).  I've got access to two computers, one I can never get to upload photos to the site, the other I can but it is kind of random.  Sometimes I can get two or three uploaded, sometimes five or six, sometimes zero. 

Great trip report - thanks for sharing.  Getting to Boot is on my bucket list. 

My own experience on Godda was a little different than yours.  I was with a friend on that same westernmost campsite.  My friend was on his first camping trip.  We got on that site, and had a hard time getting the tent staked in because the the ground two inches of pine needles covering rock.  It was a beautiful day, and then...behind us, over the top of the hill, came a mass of very dark clouds.  It was blue sky being consumed by dark as evening came, and it didn't take long for things to get cooking.  Massive thunderstorm, and we were right under it, in the tent, getting illuminated and feeling the concussions of thunder all around us.  Robert asked if we should get out of the tent and into the woods, and I told him I figured we were as well off in the tent as we were in the woods, but I wasn't sure that was true.  Good times.

Relative to the aluminum canoe....I did the Dickson-Bonfield portage under a 78 pound Grumman....but I was 16 and more fit than fat.  Still, it was like walking through the five stages of grief: denial, anger, bargaining, depression, acceptance.

The last time I portaged an aluminum canoe was in the 90's as well.  The stern deck got clogged with mud, so every time I picked up the boat, water was getting trapped in the back end, under the deck.  Took me several portages to realize why the boat was so heavy and imbalanced.

In spite of having a change of plans, your trip sounds like it was a successful one, and you sure had some nice weather for it.  BTW, your photos were fantastic.  Your photo of the heron was a dandy.  With so many great photos, that one stood out to me.  The reflection was really well-captured, and isn't something you always notice at the time.

Farm Lake, in the little bay very close to the portage to Kitty.  (I don't think I'm right, but it sure looks like that spot to me)

I'm a little surprised that Novacraft was not there.